Act Two - Preston Retrospectively II.III Resi-metrics - Housing in Preston

Resi-metrics Housing Typologies

Preston’s housing stock follows that of a typical post-industrial town. Rows of terraced housing that remains denotes where former mills and factories once stood, and in the place of those that were demolished during slum clearance in 1940-60, are a mixture of remaining municipal high-rise blocks and former council houses. Historic Winckley Square breaks this typical typological mould, a set of Georgian town houses flanking a public garden, these houses however are too large for the typical Prestonian family and are now converted to offices and commercial buildings. Pioneering estates of the mid-century such as Preston Housing Project led by Stirling and Gowan, and several high-rise Brutalist blocks are no longer, demolished and replaced by 90s and 00s ‘Rabbit-hutch’ housing estates.

The diagrams to the right are a non-exhaustive summary of these typologies, a mixture of wider urban scale housing arrangements, to high density solutions and suburban scale housing types, the simplified sketch synopses summarise the key attributes of these typologies and will be used to inspire the spatial organisation on the site.

Each typology has a conscious or unconscious principle: the Crescent and Courtyard create an internal facing sense of community while the row house, high rise and estate create a sense of visual equality between dwellers. The maisonette, and high rise consider density of living and sharing of resources while the semidetached and cul-de-sac are inspired by suburban ideals.